Going Mobo

journal of the mobile bohemian

how to become a MOBILE BOHEMIAN how does he do it?

JAMES FRANCO

04 14 October 2011

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best in show: top dog tablets

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foodie on the run: everything’s to go

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the roaming heart

IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES the new mobile bohemian droid bionic best in show how does he do it? foodie on the run roaming heart

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RECIPES flat food fusion meals phone lunch landing a number text flirting date on the fly

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Copyright 2011. Birdrock Press All rights reserved.

GM

UPFRONT THAT FIRST CAPPUCCINO

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hile standing in line for my morning cappuccino, a woman behind me taps my shoulder. She says she’s been thinking of getting one of those bad boys, indicating my Droid. Barely awake and slightly cranky, I wanted to say that this bad boy (to use her lingo) is not just a phone. First off, it’s a shrunken computer, but to misquote William Blake, it’s also a new way of seeing things and doing things.

Yes, you can now surf the web, stay connected to friends & family or find great restaurants, but more importantly, you find yourself changing, slowly at first, then more and more. Scientists, such as G.W. Small and his team at UCLA, have found new pathways etched into our brains by simply being wired up to the web. With device in hand, you find you know more and can react faster. You become more spontaneous. After all, there’s less prep for everything. (Need a good restaurant? Just consult your device.) You waste less time, write that book you always wanted to write or read morning headlines while waiting for the line to inch forward.

I guess I blurted this out, because she just nodded at me, stunned like a deer in the headlights.

OK, we’ve all run into our share of newbies. And what better place, right? (See Newbies Unite coming soon for a fresh take on mobile neophytes.)

Lines, I continued, have become our new social milieu. For most of us post-college types, there are no more late night cram sessions to bond over or crappy food at the on-campus franchises to commiserate about. Apart from work, more and more encounters happen in line, and why not?

When you think about it, we are all in the same line with the Big Cashier taking our last order. How to Stand in Line in our next issue explores line bonding, with pointers on how to use your device while in queue.

It is a growing phenomenon. As I began to explain this, I noticed right in front of us were walking, talking, breathing examples of people whose

lives had taken on a distinctive style. With a device, they linked up more easily, went to meet-ups, found others with similar interests at the same location and hung out at their home bases. (Our next issue has the lowdown on home bases).

So, while in line, enjoy this issue. Email me with your comments, suggestions or whatever (no spam please) at jenzreboot@gmail.com.

Remember: keep your friends close; keep your mobile device closer.

Happy texting.

Editor

October 2011

Background

THE NEW MOBILE BOHEMIAN A revolution of connectedness

H

ave you ever found yourself in this situation: you’re hopelessly lost on the way to a new restaurant, your car loaded up with friends talking about the latest disaster of a movie. A friend in the back realizes that you’ve circled around the block a few times and quietly pulls out his smartphone. In a blink he’s connected to Google Navigation and places the device in a beverage holder on the dashboard so you can hear the directions to the restaurant. Conversation (and your driving) is back on track. For a minute you think you’ve just picked up a talkative hitchhiker with an authoritative knowledge of the neighborhood.

Or, you’re on the way and another friend waves his iPhone in the rear view mirror to show you the RT rating of a movie to see afterwards, within five minutes of where you will be eating. You nod at this and even hear the hitchhiker express interest. Or, from the passenger seat, a friend spots a bar a block off the path on his Torch and everyone urges you to pull

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over and let them grab an early bird within reach. special (something called an Inverted Mobo is shorthand for mobile BoGoose). When someone checks in hemian. Wikipedia defines a mobile with Foursquare, you find yourself Bohemian as “a person who has inedging a sneaker up to a taped line tegrated mobile technology, primarily on the floor, squinting at the target on smartphones, into their daily lifestyle the wall and roaring in delight when as a means of expanding their social you stick it dead-center in a heated network, gaining immediate access game of darts. The challengers, a to information, staying connected tattooed group of construction workand capturing details of their daily ers, grimace. You didn’t know you lives in real time,”1 but mobos are were so good, so more than this. They rep“The use of mobile your friend adjusts resent a growing segment your reservations technology is going to just of a global culture that over the phone, is far more connected, get smaller, faster and giving you a chance more capable. And the more accessible, more to square off onecollaborative and more folks who master their on-one against the knowledgeable than the devices have a decisive rebar champ. average cell phone user. edge” Somehow the The only thing that 1 evening rolls out mobos are not: yakkers! magically with plenty of excitement They don’t chatter incessantly or and a couple of pretty baristas who intersperse phone calls with private need a lift and who have a thing for conversations. Nor are mobos aldart players. ways on their phones. They politely If none of these sound that familiar, go offline when they are with loved welcome to the world of the mobo.

1 Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_ Spontaneous. Unpredictable. Unbohemian. conventional- a mobile device always

going mobo: the new mobile bohemian

ones, at the wheel, enjoying a good movie or at times they simply need full concentration. Mobos are smart this way with a sense of style and manners.

Mobile Bohemianism has evolved from the advances in cell phones and how phones are being used these days. Interestingly, the actual number of minutes that cell phones are used is levelling out with the time per call dropping from 3.13 minutes per call in 2007 to 1.81 minutes.2 That’s down 42%, a major shift. People were downgrading their call plans and using more texting. In fact, data usage on the phones now exceeded voice usage according to the New York Times (check out the 5/13/10 article).3 The mobo is the top-tier user, the alpha dog of mobile users. He or she is not necessarily young or footloose, not your average techie nor high-strung businessman with emails landing like planes at LaGuardia. No, they span generations and stereotypes. Except looking around, you can tell them by how they handle their phones, how involved they become with their devices. A mobo masters his mobile device to the point that it not only fits naturally into his or her hand, but into almost any social situation as well. They carry their phones much like espresso demitasses, sipping on them (figuratively speaking) and not letting their enjoyment interfere with the conversations at hand. The warm smell of electronics permeates the air, their screen reflecting irresistible colors in 2 CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Results, December 2009. http://files.ctia.org/pdf/ CTIA_ Survey_Year_End_2009_ Graphics.pdf 3 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/ technology/personaltech/14talk.html

their eyes and they are so attentive and involved. How can that be?

Mobos come from all walks of life and cross the typical levels of social strata, unconstrained by location, freed from their offices, able to roam, to interact, to connect with their peers or work associates, to access the wealth of information from anywhere, practically speaking, and all from their mobile phones. The common term is device, because it resembles less and less the phones of the prior generation. They aren’t mere cell phones, but rather mobile platforms with cameras, GPS systems, storage, internet connections, music players, Wi-Fi and, of course, in many cases a phone. They were becoming less cheek-friendly according to wireless folks.4 To many a mobo, the phone portion is optional (for example, on the iPod and iPad).

Mobos master the keyboard, bookmark dozens of websites, receive daily digests of news and recommendations and, in short, operate among us, but at one level up.

The new generation of mobile phone aficionados is best described by the following observations: • They are comfortable with technology.

• They have demanding lifestyles, such as jobs that require them to be on top of things or social lives that require constant attention and cultivation.

• They are accustomed to multitasking.

• They have a curiosity and fierce willingness to follow their instincts with the aid of their phones.

• They exude a sense that there is too much to do and too little 4 Ibid

time to do it.

• They love to interact and collaborate with everyone no matter where they are.

In short, a mobo is unencumbered by time and place. Mobos can keep a certain continuity with friends and partners through a variety of situations during the day, constantly updating their statuses, constantly on the prowl for new forms of entertainment or news.

Mobos are quick to point out that the folks you see gabbing their phones in the line in front of you or at the cashier while you are waiting to order are not mobos at all, they are the antithesis of mobos, loosely referred to as yakkers. They are akin to the Neanderthal user, able to master the ten numeric keys and the flip mechanism, but lacking in social graces. This is the stone age of cell phones.

Of course, the fact is that not everyone has a smartphone. A vast majority of folks still have “dumb” phones, some 87%, but the trend is shifting and by 2013 the prediction is that 23% of all phones worldwide will be the smart kind.

In a nutshell, mobos are everywhere. They are not simply interacting with their phones, but rather engaging the new mobile technology to expand their lives in new ways. It was no longer a matter of just holding a phone to your ear, a no-brainer in anyone’s book. To enter this cadre of super users required that you learn new skills, understand the device, learn its rules, master its keyboard and navigate its soft buttons and knobs. It was not for the faint of heart.

Once mastered, the mobo gains new capabilities that catapults them over his Luddite and Neanderthal

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October 2011

brethren, but as mobos have learned, having a device that extends your real-time abilities has many advantages, not the least of which are that you can: • Stay current with news, weather and most topics that interest you throughout the day anywhere you are.

• Stay connected with friends, spouses, lovers, relatives and close friends.

• Discover restaurants, books, movies and art from a variety of sources on a moment’s notice. This allows you to be more spontaneous. Imagine finding yourself in a new neighborhood and wanting a good Mediterranean restaurant nearby.

• If you are driving, walking or taking public transportation, get quick and easy directions from your phone, most times verbally so you can keep your eyes on the road.

• Carry your music library with you or plug into free radio that can be piped into your earplugs.

• Shop and compare prices of things that you see simply by taking a picture of it on your phone.

• Pursue your love interests with text flirting and other avenues only available on mobile devices.

In short, a mobile device in the right hands gives a person range and an assortment of capabilities that normal phone users were simply without.

Of course, you need to know how to use the device and just how to use it in different social situations, but most of this can be learned and

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going mobo: the new mobile bohemian

practiced until the newbie was turned into a trueblue mobo. It’s not just a skill set. Being a mobo is as much a mindset, an approach to life, as it is a set of skills. In so many ways the device frees its owner to pursue activities or to live a life untethered from the normal restrictions.

What sets a mobo apart from a cell phone abuser is also their manners. Instead of yakking on their phones, mobos are unobtrusively interacting with the phone, usually one handed, focusing on the room around them while glancing down at their screens from time to time.

They make contact with the people around them.

In other words, they are not just on the phone or in their own extended world, rather they are in both places: very alert to their surroundings but also connected to others.

How can a person so effortlessly be in multiple places? These days, it’s difficult enough to keep track of things around you without the distraction of a phone connection of some sort. In addition to mastering their devices, they have an innate ability to multitask.

With devices leapfrogging one another, where does one begin?

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October 2011

Tech

DROID BIONIC

Dual-core speed with extended battery life!

When Motorola rolled out its latits endurance. By comparison, the est Android phone (the Droid Bionic HTC Thunderbolt gets a measly 2 XT865) at last January’s CES con1/2 hours on the 4G network (rated ference in Las Vegas, it was honkat 1500 mAh). In addition, the new ing fast. More importantly, it was version of Android may tame some equipped to handle of its power-hungry Pros: 4G is blazing the faster 4G netbackground tasks. fast; dual-core CPU; slim These tasks can also work available nationwide, Verizon’s drain the device. design; big screen.

4G LTE. But its As Motorola recently introduction lagged. Cons: 4G eats up revealed, the Bionic Originally it was be powered by a battery life; no near-field will slated for a summer dual-core processor release, but this was hardware for Google (a Texas Instruments Wallet postponed. The 1GHz OMAP4430) 1 unofficial reason with 1GB of internal heard on the street RAM. It boasts 32 Gb was battery life. Although it was of storage and can take a microSlightening quick, the battery just DHC card which can extend this could not hold up. Motorola put a potentially to 96 Gb total storage. larger battery into the unit (rated at By comparison, the iPad 2 has just 1930 mAh), which should improve 512MB of RAM, runs on a single

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core and has yet to be released with 4G capabilities. The screen on the Bionic measures 4.3 inches diagonal with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. (By contrast, the iPhone 4 has a 3.5 inch screen with 960 X 640 pixels. So, the actual resolution of the iPhone 4 is better.).

There are two cameras. The rear camera shoots at 8 megapixels, while the front camera is standard VGA with an HDMI 1.4 connection for viewing the phone on a larger screen.

going mobo: droid bionic

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October 2011

Tech

BEST IN SHOW

APPLE IPAD2

MOTOROLA XOOM

Pros

Great user experience, thin and light, 10-hour battery life

Bigger screen, higher resolution, 10-hour battery life, excellent Chrome browser

Cons

No Flash, no 4G, no SD slot, no rear camera, Apple filters apps, Safari browser needs facelift

No 4G support, a bit heavy at 1.6 lbs,

* as of 9/15/11 10

going mobo: best in show

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 10.1

Fast OS, lightweight, 4G WiFi,

SD card, Slim and light, bigger screen, 4G WiFi, , excellent Chrome browser

Small screen, no SD slot, WiFi only, lesser known app market

WiFi only, some IMAP email issues, 7-hour battery life

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October 2011

Tablet

Rating

Price $

Acer Iconia Tab A500

«««

445.54

Apple iPad

«««

439

2010

iOS

9.7

Apple iPad 2

««««

519

2011

iOS 4

9.7

Archos 101 Internet Tablet

««

290.15

2010

Android

Archos 9 PC tablet

««

340

2010

Windows 7 Start

Asus Eee Pad Transformer

««««

398

2011

Android 3.0

10.1

Asus Eee Slate EP121

««««

1199

2011

Windows 7 Home

12.0

Barnes&Noble Nook Color

«««

249

2010

Android 2.2

7.0

BlackBerry PlayBook

««««

460.6

2010

BlackBerry OS

7.0

Coby Kyros

«««

162.44

2011

Android 2.2

7.0

Dell Streak 7

««««

299

2011

Android

7.0

Fujitsu Lifebook® T730

«««

1199

2010

Windows 7 Pro

12.1

Fujitsu LifeBook® TH700

«««

999

2010

Windows 7

12.1

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550

««

729

2011

Windows 7 Pro

10.1

HP Slate 500

«««

761.98

2010

Windows 7 Pro

8.9

HP TouchPad

««««

236.4

2011

HP webOS

9.7

Lenovo Ideapad K1

««««

499

2011

Android 3.1

10.1

Motorola XOOM

««««

799.99

2011

Android 3.0

10.1

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

««««

499.99

2011

Android 3.1

10.1

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7

««««

435

2010

Android

7.0

T-Mobile G-Slate 4G

««««

749.99

2011

Android 3.0

8.9

Toshiba Thrive

««««

399.99

2011

Android 3.1

10.1

Vizio 8” Tablet

«««

289.87

2011

Android 2.3

8.0

12

Introduced OS (Year) 2011 Android 3.0

Display 10.1

10.1 8.9

going mobo: best in show

Storage Gb 16

Resolution

CPU

CPU speed 1.00 GHz

Battery (hours) 7

Weight lbs 1.6

1280 x 800

NVIDIA® Tegra™

16 - 64

1024 x 768

Apple A4

1.00 GHz

9.5

1.5

16 - 64

1024 x 768

Apple A5

1.00 GHz

10

1.33

8 - 16

1024 x 600

ARM Cortex A8

1.00 Ghz

7

1.06

60

1024 x 600

Intel ATOM Z515

1.20 GHz

5

1.8

16 - 32

1280 x 800

NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2

1.00 GHz

9.5

1.5

32 - 64

1280 x 800

Intel Core i5

1.33 GHz

5

2.53

8

1024 x 600

ARM

0.8 GHz

8

0.99

16 - 64

1024 x 600

ARM Cortex A9

1.00 GHz

7

0.9

4 - 32

800 x 480

Samsung S5PV210

1.00 GHz

0

0.87

16 - 32

800 x 480

nVidia Tegra T20

1.00 GHz

4

1

160

1280 x 800

Intel® Core™ i3-370M

2.40 GHz

0

3.9

320

1280 x 800

Intel Core i3-350M

2.26 GHz

0

4.2

30 - 62

1280 x 800

Intel® Atom™ Z670

1.50 GHz

8

1.7

64

1024 x 600

Intel® Atom™ Z540

1.86 GHz

5

1.5

16 - 32

1024 x 768

Qualcomm Snapdragon

1.20 GHz

8.5

1.6

16 - 64

1280 x 800

NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2

1.00 GHz

8

1.65

32

1280 x 800

Nvidia Tegra Dual

1.00 GHz

8

1.6

16 - 32

1280 x 800

NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2

1.00 GHz

10

1.26

16 - 32

1024 x 600

PowerVR SGX540

1.00 GHz

6

0.8

32

1280 x 768

Nvidia Tegra 250

1.00 GHz

8

1.4

8 - 32

1280 x 800

Nvidia Tegra 250

1.0 GHz

7

1.7

4 - 32

1024 x 768

Marvell Armada 600

1.00 GHz

8

1.2

13

October 2011

Lifestyle

HOW DOES HE DO IT?

Photo by John Harrison via Wikimedia Commons

James Franco talks about his mobo lifestyle

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going mobo: how does he do it?

W

ith the release of a book of short stories, a controversial exhibition of his artwork, simultaneous advanced degree programs in progress and his rumored role in the upcoming film The Iceman, you’d think that James Franco would have little time for life’s little pleasures. He certainly wouldn’t have time for a no-name writer with a deadline.

Yet there he was, sprawled out in a tiny breakfast stop on the city’s busy West End on a busy Tuesday morning. The café was busy but he sat away from the crowd near a back entrance, looking a bit disheveled, eager to answer any questions. Congenial, funny, handsome and disarmingly honest. Yes, breakfast was on the docket, and he ordered a giant plate of eggs then kicked back to start the interview.

“You probably know I have a lot of projects,” he said. I laughed a little nervously at this, scribbling down his every word.

Certainly the amount of projects was an understatement for anyone who knew his schedule. Even that day, his docket was full. He rattled off the day’s activities. Close by was his mobile device which he glanced at from time to time. He turned heads

when hosting at the recent Oscars when he walked on stage with his smartphone. All during his role as host he tweeted, using the #oscarsrealtime tag. Here was a consumate mobo. It was so comforting to see him stay connected, with friends, business associates. I suspect there was a love interest in the text messages that rolled across his screen, but one can only go so far in the initial questions.

I talk about his break-out role on Freaks and Geeks, 1 and his cameo spot on 30 Rock as part of an ménage à troi with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and a Japanese anime pillow. How does he come up with these ideas?

He laughs at this. “[To be honest] acting doesn’t do very much for me,” he offered. He quickly changes the subject to one closer to his true passions. “I put off school for it, but it’s not like it was a sacrifice or anything.

I really didn’t miss school until I went back. Or maybe I missed it and nobody believed that, not even me.

The work of it — and I have really great teachers — that’s the stuff that adds up for me in a way that acting doesn’t.”

For an actor who jets from sets to classes, Franco has defied convention. He embodied the bohemian lifestyle, still very dedicated to his

“I don’t even like to sleep - I feel as if there’s too much to do.“

craft, willing to take risks and be spontaneous.

With the publication of Palo Alto, his collection of unusual stories, Franco demonstrated his range.

Each story is an intertwined story of unusual characters. Many times the reader forgets that the first person narrator is NOT the James Franco we’ve come to admire.

And the book?

“Originally this book was going to be about a character who really doesn’t show up much in the final book: a troubled guy I knew when

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October 2011

Photo by James Franco, self-portrait

I was younger.” He takes a few bites of his eggs. “That’s how I started writing about my hometown. Then other characters started coming in. I always thought I was going to have multiple perspectives, but when the other voices started coming in, his didn’t fit well with the stories that were going on around him, so I decided to save him for another book.”

And your art exhibit? Do these somehow relate to one another?

The reference was to “The Dangerous Book Four Boys,” which went on display at the Clocktower Gallery last year. Franco’s piece was spread over multiple rooms ranging from an installation piece of memorabilia from his childhood (“Scatter Piece”) to a plywood shack that showed a series of videos he made. One of the videos (“Rocket”) deconstructs the explosion of a makeshift child’s rocket from different angles, while “Bill and Tenn” follows a conventional narrative. Other videos careen toward more sexually provocative portraits of artists and artistic fetishes.

The exhibit received mixed reviews. He shrugged it off, admitting that he took a lot of the criticism as rejection.

“Well,” he explained, “in an artistic field where it’s a lot of yourself that’s being rejected, it’s not just a numbers report. It’s you they’re saying no to.”

The most perplexing question is how he does it all. How can he be a full-time doctoral student at Yale while maintaining a demanding acting schedule.

He explained that he many times must simply wrap up work on the set and take a red-eye flight from one coast to another. For example, he hosted the Oscars last March in Hollywood, then flew overnight to New Haven to be on time for his 9:25 AM class on medieval manuscripts. His professor was delighted,

16

going mobo: how does he do it?

Photo by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons

commenting that “he is a dedicated student.”

Even the head of Yale’s English department remarked, “he’s very good at not attracting attention to himself and blending in.”

All this activity takes its toll on sleep of course. And this may be the key area that Franco differs from most mortals. He simply skips sleep many times. He is often quoted as saying, “I don’t even like to sleep. I feel as if there’s too much to do.” So, instead of sleeping normal hours, Franco catches up as he can. He’s been caught napping in class, but not often.

Franco joins the club of famous people who had polyphasic sleep habits, including Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Napolean Bonaparte, Thomas Edison and Buckminster Fuller. Bonaparte was famous for taking 30 minute naps during the heat of battle, handing over the reins to his subordinates. Churchill took long naps. “You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner,” remarked Churchill, “and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one -- well, at least one and a half.”

For Franco, this atypical sleep pattern allows him to take on a very active schedule, commanding the screen in one moment, then attending his college courses the next.

Before I can respond, he is up, shaking hands and out the door. On the run, always multi-tasking, James Franco moves without boun­daries.

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October 2011

Mobo Food

FOODIE ON THE RUN Everything’s To-Go

I

f there is a central reason to be a mobo, it’s the food. Yes, there are great spots close to where you live, but the journey into unknown neighborhoods, the discovery of unique fare, odd combinations and feisty cooks elevates the simple act of eating to the realm of treks to the Artic poles.

Yes, these discoveries don’t get quite the same headlines, but you feel the same sense of venturing into the unknown to find hidden treasures. Success means a delicious bounty.

EAT WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY The average mobo is constantly on the move, connecting with friends over the far reaches of space and time, constantly firing off messages, linking in, uploading, downloading, side loading and nurturing his simulated pets, so it should be no surprise that they are perpetually hungry. An on-the-go lifestyle with such constant activity creates shifting and unpredictable cravings. Mobos eat at all times of the day or night, with hankerings for meals completely out of synch. For example, having a short stack with salsa at dinner or asking for pozole at breakfast is commonplace. Finding a restaurant

18

that can accommodate the unexpected is not always as easy, but more and more establishments are catering the mobile crowd with allday menus, free WiFi, early morning or late-evening specials and special ethnic food combos. With this shift, the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner modality is being blurred. What is so important about these times: 9AM, noon and 6PM anyway? If the foods at each type of meal change, so too do the times.

The mobo approach to meals is a direct reflection of early Zen thought.

When asked, how does one practice Zen, Master Po-ching replied,1 “Eat when you are hungry. Sleep when you are tired.”

Your experienced mobo is all over that!

TRIPLE-E Unlike other approaches to fast food, mobos look for Elevated Eating Experiences (triple Es for short). Not your typical burger or salad, these meals combine unusual pairings of authentic regional cuisine with fresh ingredients. In short, mobos are foodies typically without the squirts of sauce or vertical stacking 1 The Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work, and Art in the Far East by Alan W. Watt, 1958, Grove Press.

of components. They love food, but don’t necessary have the time to make it themselves. They are not concerned with presentation as much as with creativity of the dish and its ingredients. For example, traditional street food that is served in easy-tohandle packages, such as fermented Tofu wraps, Xuahacan Grasshopper skewers or Coq Au Vin sliders.

To find these delicacies, mobos will use yelp, UrbanSpoon and other apps to see what restaurants are within range and peruse their reviews to find a good match between what they feel like eating and the food nearby. Just because mobos are usually on the move does not mean that don’t know good food when they see it. They eschew stacked food (ala Iron Chef) or dishes with squirted patterns. “Just give us something unique,” is their battle cry.

Also, mobos will order to go and find someplace outdoors (weather permitting) to enjoy their meal or with other mobos in the vicinity.

FOLLOW THAT TRUCK There is nothing more dear to my heart these days than food trucks.

They have broken through the stigma of being exclusively for construction workers and of specializing in dayold sandwiches. These days you will

going mobo: foodie on the run

find food trucks catering to white-collar worker, student, tourist and gourmands alike. Asian neighborhoods will have boba and noodle trucks parked conveniently along the street. Need a quick vegan meal? There’s a food truck usually within walking distance from bead shops or food co-ops. The lure of these vans can draw me away from pressing work and out in the streets hunting for a duck taco. Their cuisine can be definitely upscale and the lure seems to be burned into our unconscious memories from the days of ice cream trucks.

The key with food trucks is finding them. Most vans will post their location online or tweet their location, so by simply following your favorite truck, you can always be in the know, but the problem is when you are in a neighborhood and you want something different. A food truck must be just the thing, but how do you locate trucks in your general vicinity without having to walk or drive miles out of your way?

Now a number of national websites (with apps) can give you real-time information on where a food truck is located, including those planning to be in a neighborhood later that day.

• RoamingHunger.com provides locations of food trucks in major cities with an easy-to-use search engine and tabs that allow you to indicate the times. This allows you to plan a lunch, for example, later in the day if you know you’ll be at the location.

• Foodtrucksmap.com is a Google map service also available as apps on Android and iPhones that shows current and planned locations in major cities. Each truck is displayed on Google and allows traffic to also be displayed.

• FoodTrucks.Zagat.com is currently in beta, but allows you

19

December 21, 2012

FL AT FOOD Inspired by Douglas Coupland’s microserfs, flat food is becoming a popular and transportable nosh that is finding its way into laptop totes. In Coupland’s novel, a coder at Microsoft has locked himself in his office finishing his software to meet a deadline. He refuses to come out and his friends slip flat food under the door. This Flatlander diet takes hold and the coder adopts the name “Kraft Single.” He eats only flat food.

It’s become a bit of a hyper-local fad, catching on in coffee houses where table space is limited and pastries are too expensive for daily consumption.

A number of variations are prized on the mobo scene, including focaccia, flattened calzones, brownies, pizza wedges, quesadillas and flatbreads of all types. The trick is to find a meal that you can slip into the vertical compartments of your totes. For example, the standard burrito will cause severe bulges when placed next to your laptop and can even burst in extreme situations. However, slip a focaccia into your bag and presto: you have a great snack or lunch with very little real estate consumed in your bag. As an added benefit, flat food offers your laptop extra padding to help buffer any shock.

Stuffed focaccias are ideal, since they can package the ingredients inside the bread and have less of a chance for leaking. The key always is to wrap your flat food before slipping it into your bag.

Some mobos report that they are able to place their flat meals under their laptops and keep them warm! This is a novel idea and can help melt cheese for those laptops that run hotter than normal.

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going mobo: foodie on the run

to find specific cuisine in major cities. For example, if you are looking for a Turkish food van, then you can simply select this from one of their checkboxes.

• Eat St. is a mobile app that boasts of tracking food trucks in major cities. The app will provide menus, hours and pictures of food trucks that you select. Some of the updates of location have been problematic however.

Other sites are geared toward specific cities.

For example, Los Angeles has findlafoodtrucks. com, the Los Angeles Street Food app and clustertruck.com or you can simply follow @ LAFoodTruck on Twitter.

Another easy way is to use Google maps to find trucks near you or follow the tweets of your favorite trucks. Also, keep a list of your favorite trucks and follow them online. Each truck has a different way they broadcast their location. Half the fun is finding them.

If you are like me, I’m short on planning and long on spontaneity. For food vans, you can usually find something close by, depending on your municipality. For example, LA seems to be the hub on the west coast for these trucks. While in L.A., I eat most of my breakfasts and lunches from trucks. You’d be very surprised at how far truck food has come. Avoid the trucks with pre-made sandwiches or pastries wrapped in plastic.

At the trucks, try sampling their specialties. I usually find that I eat standing up, but you can also ask for it to go and find a place to sit and enjoy.

Food trucks bring great food right to your doorstep, or at least close by. All you need to tap into this roving resource is your mobile device, a few good sites to follow and a ravaging hunger. Don’t worry about planning your meals, just glance down at your screen when you’re hungry and see what’s close, you’ll be surprised.

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October 2011

Tradecraft

FUSION MEALS PROBLEM You have a hankering for a cross-cultural meal but all that is available is the standard fare and noisy cafeteria-style mess halls. What can you do?

DISCUSSION Unlike eating at a restaurant, mobos are not limited by a single menu or a single ethnic cuisine. All it takes is a little imagination and a hearty appetite.

SOLUTION Order your lunch or dinner items “to go” and set up at a favorite spot, like a park or a freeway underpass.

And, bring that date!

RECIPE The key to an enjoyable, fusion meal is creativity and your device. Since you are mobile, you are not bound by the rules that govern most of the sedentary masses. Instead, locate unique cafes, order ”to go” and eat your meal somewhere interesting.

1. Pick a general theme for your lunch or dinner. For example, “One-handed Food” or “Fried Intestinal Fare.” If the category spills over different restaurants, consider how many stops you want to make. Keep your theme fairly general.

2. Using your device, find out what’s within range.

Use Yelp, Google, Urbanspoon and other sites.

3. If you are ordering from work or home, try to extend your range or try different places.

Remember, if you keep eating at the same place, you will be bored over time.

4. Before you leave (say, 30 minutes before or so), order your first set of items from the first restaurant.

5. Line up a date spontaneously. Yes, why not give

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Recipe a call to someone you just ran into, say at your home base, at a party or waiting in line. There’s no downside and you can enjoy the spontaneity of a first date.

6. On the way to the next restaurant, order your second set of items. Of course it’s more convenient to have your restaurants close by, but this simply depends on your time frame. Most mobos can continue to text while they walk. Or if you are driving, switch into voice mode.

7. Snack while you are en route to the next spot.

But remember to leave the key items unpacked so you can spread them out once you arrive at your destination.

8. At your final restaurant or cafe, find a comfortable chair and/or table, preferably with a view, and spread your meal before you. Or optionally, rendezvous at the park or underpass and enjoy.

9. If your date has not arrived, give a call.

Sometimes a few encouraging words will do the trick, or maybe they need directions.

10. If you are set up in a public place where people are generally not having a meal, for example a park bench, offer some of your snacks to others around you. Don’t make enemies.

11. Remember to tip at each restaurant. Your servers are at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak.

Show your appreciation. They’ll remember you.

12. If you are at a coffee shop or other location with items purchased elsewhere, buy your drink and again tip the staff!

When ordering from restaurants, allow enough time, especially during peak hours, for your items to be prepared. Restaurants will pack up most any item on their menu “to go.”

going mobo: phone lunch

Tradecraft

PHONE LUNCH

Recipe

PROBLEM

RECIPE

You want to spend a relaxing lunch with friends, but finding the right spot is illusive. Some of your friends are on Purge Diets; others have a phobia for any cuisine with accents; while others are simply too far away. Yet when you all hang out together, it’s a blast. What can you do?

Half the fun of getting together with friends for lunch is talking with your mouth full. But you don’t have to be in their face to still enjoy it. You can still have fun halfway across town. For that matter, halfway across the country.

DISCUSSION There’s nothing like spending a long lunch with friends at your favorite Italian spot, but orchestrating this on a busy schedule may not be the easiest. Plus, not everybody likes Italian. Go figure.

So instead of trying to organize a physical gathering, mobos will many times just link up by phone. (And with video calling and front-facing cameras, it’s almost like being there with another person.)

SOLUTION Have a Phone Lunch. Meet up by phone and schmooze.

1. Line up a good time with a bunch of friends to have a Phone Lunch. The rules: you need a phone and you should be in a relatively quiet environment.

2. Find out who has conferencing on their device.

Most mobile phones allow you to add a couple of people to a call.

3. Use Piggyback Conferencing to chain several conference calls together.

4. Find a good spot and buy your lunch on the way, or just eat it in the restaurant to save time. Make sure it’s quiet.

5. Add in video calling if you like. This is purely optional, but it allows you to see what everyone else is eating.

Link up and start eating.

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October 2011

Romance

ROAMING HEART The new mobile bohemian

T

oday’s mobile devices can facilitate all phases of relationships, from those early awkward moments when you just want to get through to the small talk and clichés, to the important times when you want to get the quickie divorce or marriage, or want to apologize for your nakedness in the mailroom.

It’s not that mobile phones and tablets replace the face to face and hardly the physical involvement. Contrary to popular belief, a mobo would much rather be with their loved ones physically. In these compressed times, that simply isn’t possible. Rather, devices have become indispensable and provide a perpetual connection to one’s soul mate. Never leave their presence.

Take Rob, for example.

When Rob scales the rock face at Malibu Canyon, he always takes Laura, Gina and Becky along. Not physically of course, because first off Laura is terrified of heights.

When she needs to reach the martini glasses at the cabinet of her apartment, she won’t use a stepladder, because, as she says, she gets a bit “North By Northwest.”

Although Gina could handle it, she is a foodie and would strain his budget on the way up and back stopping at the fruit stands, then

24

lugging the wine up the cliff. Becky is a rather girly bookworm, thoroughly beautiful, but her focus is not always on the here and now. Rob could not take the chance.

Together, these girls have their own baggage, certainly more than he can deal with on a mountainside, but on his device they work out just fine.

He straps them all into his harness,

safe and secure, plugs in an earpiece and has their phone numbers squarely on top of his screen. As he edges up, he taps the phone and one of them is on the line, listening to the wind howling around the corner, hearing his labored breathing, his calm voice and the distant yells from Dan belaying below, of course Laura can barely contain her own excite-

going mobo: roaming heart

ment, vicariously pushing to the top.

He describes matching on a small outcropping, pinching a corner and clipping into protection every five or ten minutes. She hears his delight at an easy hold. When he is stumped, on an overhang for example, she whispers some encouragement as best she can, her voice quivering with terror. Most of the time, she cannot bear these quiet times and usually she just holds her breath. He has to smile when she repeatedly calls his name when she hasn’t heard from him. Sometimes it’s too much for her, and so he wedges himself into a small corner and talks her down, so to speak. His belayor below is usually focused on him, but plugged into his MP3 library, waiting for Rob’s conversation to end.

When Laura’s had her limit, he tells her so and focuses on the more grueling segments. He’ll give Gina a call when he’s squeezing goop into his mouth on a quick mid-morning break.

She hates this. He will usually time this when she is sipping a cappuccino at his favorite hangout, or biting into a fresh croissant at Frenchie’s, her favorite bakery around the corner.

Gina is also lives vicariously. She is an avid runner, but is married, so Rob keeps her in the loop as a fence-sitting relationship. That is, he does not know whether she will ever weaken, (she’s not the sort, he says) but on the odd chance he will send her late-night texts with work-related double entendres. Becky usually will not respond if she is immersed in her latest book, but usually she will call him and have a soft, sweet shyness that gives him energy on the rock face. It’s hard to tell just how she affects him, but he is the most honest with her, mainly because real life, the flesh-and-bone stuff, does not affect her as deeply as the charac-

ters she reads. She purrs on the line, Lastly, Rob calls Becky and they if frightened when he is in a difficult chat in whispers with some allusions spot, so he will be very judicious about to Hemingway and Fitzgerald. She his calls, preferring instead to text. giggles and asks if he’s OK. He melts Of course, when he slips and takes and wants to talk longer, but of course a plunge down the face until his line usually she needs to get back to her catches him, he will usually blurt out a books. “whoa” or “crap.” Depending who is on When Laura hears his knock on the the line, it can be a door, when he is finally on big mistake. For ex- Mainly the device allows terra firma, she cannot let ample, Laura simply the world of romance to go and he must muscle his cannot take it. She be wide open -- limited backpack and his girlfriend screams and fell over the couch. Lunch is only by one’s imagination. to a corner of the rug. spread out on the coffee Her breathing gets table. He tries to reach the 1 very heavy, but not in sandwiches, but she will a good way. Not only not let him go, so he waits must he muster the strength to pull and flips through his text messages. himself up the line, but he must worry When she is finally calm, he reaches about Laura. She waits anxiously for over, grabs a sandwich and shows her his voice again. If he tries to downplay pictures from the top. The lunch sudthe fall, she immediately panics. He denly gets half eaten and they disapknows better. pear into a frantic lovemaking, as if the “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he’ll say. “Laura, world as they know it will end soon, I’m fine.” tragically.

“Come down, come down,” she Rob is all about adventure and he says. “I can’t stand it. My head is loves each of his girlfriends in different pounding.” She is breathless. ways. He can express these affections “Got to go,” he says with a smile. through his device with finesse. In a When she insists, he’ll keep her on way he has taken the basic approach the line and retrace his holds. He has to multitasking and applied it to his tried not to keep her on the line, but love life. Of course, they do not know she will call him repeatedly and, anythe full extent of his involvements, but way, she adds a sense of adventure to on some level they are not as conhis climb. cerned.

At the top, he makes a series of long Although there is a common belief calls. If Laura is on the line, he will that most mobos have a reluctance describe the panorama. She signs to commit, it’s a hard one to actually and he hears her ease back into a substantiate. Mainly the device alpillow. It’s a long call, taking a few lows the world of romance to be wide gulps of water, swinging gently in the open, or if limited, limited only by one’s wind. Then he makes a quick call to imagination.

Gina. She will tell him some jokes For Brad and Meg, their relationship and he’ll text over some pictures with hit some hard bumps. First off they some questionable captions, such as began having problems just living to“on top, hard as can be, need to slide gether. Brad was a slob, unreformed down, hands slippery with sweat.” from his bachelor days, which he She just laughs. continued to live assuming Meg was

25

October 2011

just one of the guys. This meant the requisite basketball hoop over their bed, a major console paddles lined up on the nightstand and the carpeting completely hidden by clothes, books, comics and papers.

Meg loved him dearly, and in fact was so impressed that he considered her just one of the gang, that she never really complained. Of course she drew the line at the Konect unit in the bedroom. She never fully trusted it, to be frank.

When she realized that she could no longer live this way, the sloppiness, the complete disorganization of the room that spread throughout the house, she drew the line, which in turn sent Brad into a tailspin. It was interpreted as a major impasse. He felt that his sloppiness was just the person that he was. It was going to be hard to get over the fact that he had to fish out clothes from under the piles each day and that his whole identity was enmeshed with this mode of living.

A showdown came. It was not pretty. She insisted that he wear slacks and a nice shirt to a company event. When he greeted her at the door in completely wrinkled clothes, yes they were the best that he had, but nowhere close to being ironed, she stormed out.

Luckily Brad immediately jumped on his mobile device. Profuse apologies beeped through on her messaging. He tried to call, but she would not pick up. He sent a picture of himself looking like a sad puppy. Then he texted her, promising to change, but she was driving and only caught up at the light. Meanwhile he got out an iron, used his device to get the basics on how to use it and make his outfit look presentable.

26

Meg did not reply.

When Brad re-dressed and sent a photo of himself, hair combed, slacks ironed (or at least better than they were), she just smiled, then cried a little, then laughed, sent back an “OK� and turned around to go back for him.

They ended up being late, but that had more to do with making up.

The mobile came in handy and probably saved their relationship.

going mobo: landing a number

Tradecraft

L ANDING A NUMBER

Recipe

PROBLEM

RECIPE

You still want to contact a person, either by voice or text, but do not have their mobile number.

Tracking down a mobile number takes a bit of time and persistence. In starting out, do not rush it. It’s just as important how you obtain the number as the number itself.

DISCUSSION If you have approached the person whose cell number you’d like, but have not gotten to first base, then you will need to be a bit more persistent. Keep in mind you will need a good excuse once you get the number.

You don’t want to come off as a stalker.

SOLUTION Inside of a face to face, apply the concept of Seven Degrees of Freedom to quick web lookup’s.

1. Ask yourself, apart from wanting to meet this person or interact more with this person, is there any other more practical reason to contact this person? For example, did they leave a personal item that you want to return? Did they mention that they wanted a recipe from you or a podcast or tune? These practical reasons come in handy.

Write the best one down and carry it around with you.

2. Using your PC or mobile device, do a quick lookup online for this person. Use Google or Bing for your search. Spell their name and give the city to get a more specific list of people.

3. Sort through the web search and identify the person.

4. Next, use your social networking site (Facebook and others) to conduct your searches.

27

October 2011

Tradecraft

TEXT FLIRTING PROBLEM You want to let your partner or flame, or budding romantic object know that you are thinking of them, but at the same time you don’t want to interrupt their day.

DISCUSSION Text flirting is light-hearted flirting using your mobile device. Typically, the flirts are meant to complement the receiver while brightening their day. Keep in mind that your receiver may be in the middle of driving, finals or with someone else at the time, so it must be eye catching, while not being too overboard.

SOLUTION Perform some selected text flirts.

RECIPE The rule of thumb is to text flirt with only one person at a time, otherwise it might be misconstrued as text fishing. To a long-time flame, this could send the wrong message.

5. Check your flame’s location. If you have a Google Maps, then you may already have them on Latitude. Find out where they are if it’s posted.

This comes in handy when you are crafting a short message.

6. Start with something very neutral, just to warm up the conversation. Tell them where you are and what you’re doing.

7. Next, ask about them where they are, what they’re doing. You don’t want to begin a serious flirt when they are driving, for example. This could put a quick end to your budding romance.

8. Now bring your flame to mind, visualize them.

9. What do you miss about them, besides the hot

28

Recipe sex or their snide comments at inappropriate times? Anything, anything come to mind?

10. How has your heartthrob changed your life in a positive way?

11. What do you want to tell them, but have not had the guts so far?

12. Picture their smile. In your own words, describe how they make you feel.

13. Now encapsulate this feeling a short phrase.

Don’t worry about going over the 128 character official limit of the text message. Most carriers will glum your messages together. For example, 14. “I can’t seem to get you out of my head this morning.

15. You really brighten my life, you know?

16. OK, I was a mess last night, but, hey, you were so sweet to help me find the door.”

17. Check for spelling mistakes before you send it out. Remember, miss keying a simple word can end your conversation and maybe jinx your relationship.

18. Now really read their response. Are they in a good place? Do they respond appropriately?

If not, then just carry on a little small talk.

Otherwise, pick up on what they are saying.

19. Explore the possibilities with them. Where can you take this relationship, or if you are just getting started, how serious are they feeling about you?

20. End on a light note.

going mobo: date on the fly

Tradecraft

DATE ON THE FLY PROBLEM You either couldn’t summon up the courage to make a date ahead of time, or you couldn’t figure out who in the right mind would want to hang out with you for an entire dinner. How can you find a date in a hurry, and yet not offend the date in the process?

DISCUSSION If you are like me, there’s never enough time to get your social life in order. After you’ve counted the drawer, put in your orders to restock and checked your dwindling stocks, you are bushed or get too involved with Top Chef Masters to concentrate on the most important things, so lining up a date can be a last-minute item at best.

Don’t let this discourage you. The mobo approach these days is quite spontaneous.

SOLUTION Send a text to a couple of potential dates and see if you can link up with them.

RECIPE The key in landing a date on the fly is keeping it light and nimble. You don’t want to come off as being desperate or wimpy, which you probably are. But no need to broadcast it, right?

1. In your phone’s contact, assemble a list of potential last-minute dates. If this is your romantic other, then the key is giving the date a bit more weight.

2. Using your device, see what’s happening that evening. There are usually good sources for this.

Look at movies, clubs, plays and restaurants.

Many apps and sites will list the ones that are close by.

Recipe

and food, you can then match the person who’d best suit the combo. Usually I start in reverse order (that is, with the person) then match the movie or event with a great spot to eat.

4. Next, practice what you are going to say. Yes, it is supposed to be spontaneous, but make sure you’ve got the lead-in right. Start with a reason for the last-minute text. Then, follow it with an openended question. For example,

• I got out of helping a friend move. You doing anything?

• I’m feeling better and thought I’d try to get a healthy meal somewhere. You up for a little fun?

5. Next, if they are interested, suggest the combo.

Remember: make it more than a single event so they see that you have something a bit more special in mind. They’ll get the point.

6. If they are busy or not interested, make sure you have a good way of easing out of the conversation.

• It was definitely a last minute idea. But let’s get together some time soon. I realized I hadn’t seen you recently.

• No problem. Sorry that it was so spontaneous.

But I figure you’d be up for it.

7. If your original idea does not fly, have a Plan B. Another combo that they might like. Remember: just because it is last minute doesn’t mean that you wing it in your texting.

Once your partner likes the idea, settle on a time and immediately give a call for reservations and tickets. A lot can be done on your device.

3. In much the same way you can match the movie

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no need to fret.

CLONE YOURSELF!

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